


Violins In The Silence

by tismethywriter



Category: Fantasy - Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Fantasy, Magic, Music, Original Character(s), Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-07-31 10:37:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20113738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tismethywriter/pseuds/tismethywriter
Summary: Cora Keely Smith thinks she is a regular girl, living a regular boring life with her sister Aliyah. Her pink hair and deafness makes her the biggest outsider in her hometown of Southstreet. But when a two people sneak into her country she soon realizes that having pink is the last thing that makes her different from everybody else.





	1. The Only Time School Is Interesting

As she was getting ready for school Cora Keely rolled her eyes as her hair wouldn’t fit in the hair tie. It was always her hair that kept her from doing anything else. Her mom always told her it was because she had curly hair and her hair type is beautiful. Cora generally liked her appearance. Big soft brown eyes, light brown skin, a skinny nose. It was just. The insufferable hair. Her hair was curly, and long which was fine. But it was also naturally pink. Not even the pretty neon pink either. It was light baby pink which made her curls look like cotton candy.

Not to mention, it clashed with her seashell brown skin.

If it was up to Cora, she’d have dark midnight colored hair like her adoptive family.

Since Cora was so focused on her hair, she didn't notice her little sister Aliyah sneak into her room-or her flashing lights. It was typical of Aliyah to sneak in, even if she knew the lights flashed whenever somebody entered Cora's room. She asked her parents for the same thing but since she wasn't deaf, unlike Cora, she couldn't get any.

As Cora was still bending over struggling to get her hair into a bun, Aliyah snuck up behind her and grabbed her arm.

Immediately Cora stood straight up, whipped around and held up her fists. The hair tie hanging from her grinning mouth. Laughing at her sisters dramatic reaction, Aliyah fished an index card from the pocket of the bookbag on her back. Aliyah handed Cora the index card and walked around her to brush out her hair. Aliyah was the closest family member Cora had. When Aliyah was born, she was so happy that she wouldn't be alone in a world that spoke about everything she did. People in Southstreet always stared and whispered, no doubt wondering about the pink hair.

As Aliyah fixed Cora's hair, Cora read the index card.

Written in blue pen Aliyah had wrote "Let's go to school already"

As the girls walked to their school, Cora wrote down in her blue notebook "Why are you wearing that?"

Aliyah smiled and wrote on the same book "It's sparkly! and adds more pop!"

Aliyah had on a sparkly gold headband to match her black and yellow uniform. At Southstreet Special High the uniforms came in any color you chose. They all looked the same but the colors varied. Cora always wore white and teal for her colors. For the blind people at school uniforms didn't matter obviously. SSH was a school for all the 'impaired' people in Southstreet-the town south of the Queen’s Castle.

Writing in her notebook again, Cora writes "okay but, does it have to be so sparkly? You look like a bumble bee with all that yellow."

"Yellow looks the best on me! and it's a happy color!"

"It's bright and eye catching color"

"Why can't people look at me?"

"They're gonna talk about you, like they talk about me" Cora wrote down, gritting her teeth.

It was true though, Cora was always talked about. Her hair was bright, she didn't use sign language, she always passed pieces of paper to the teacher to ask questions-In a school full of weird outsiders, she was the biggest outsider. Insane...I know. Cora shut her notebook as the two sisters crossed the street to enter the school for the weirdos. Opposite of Cora, Aliyah loved this high school. When her parents found out that she was smarter than the average 8 year-old, they had her take the test to get into Cora's school and she's been going there ever since. Aliyah could do the high school work just as easily as Cora could, maybe even better! Aliyah was also Cora's translator and knew sign language before she could actually talk.

She felt bad that everybody was disappointed in Cora for not learning it so she learned it to make everybody happy and let Cora have easier ways to communicate. As the two girls entered the school, they already had to go to first period instead of going to breakfast. The first thing the girls learned was math and that was already a dreadful thing for Aliyah and Cora. Aliyah hated math and Cora hated the people in math class.

"Welcome Everyone" the teacher said, signing her statement as she talked."Glad to see you all could make it".

Ms. Kenny Lee was blind so she always said that as a joke.

"The first thing we're gonna do as you know, are introductions to your new seat partner."

Everyday the 'seat partner' changed so everybody could make new friends. Aliyah was always eager to have friends but Cora was not. Cora turned to the boy she never saw before and waved her hand in a 'hello'. The boy waved back and signed something Cora didn't understand. She watched as Aliyah signed the same phrase back. Cora was already bored with this conversation so she just zoned out. It was annoying that she couldn't understand sign language. She couldn't hear what anybody was saying and she couldn't even read their lips. It was as if everybody was speaking a language she couldn't understand. All she knew was that she could hear one thing.

Music.

It happened when she was six, she was sad that she was deaf and wanted to know why. She saw other people put on headphones and she wanted to be like everybody else. So she put on her moms headphones and she heard the music. Why or how she can only hear music, she doesn't know. She didn't tell anybody because they wouldn't believe her and she had a feeling she should keep it to herself anyway. It was pointless for Cora to care what the teacher was saying, so she just slept like always.

Aliyah sighed as Cora slept through math class...again. It was always this class that Cora hated, the class where you basically had to hear or see to understand. But this was the class Aliyah was glad she slept in. Then she wouldn't know what happened next. It happened precisely thirty minutes after Cora fell asleep, only leaving an hour left of the two hour class. Aliyah had been taking notes and doing Cora’s worksheets for her, she would teach her the lesson when they got home. Naturally, she was interrupted by dumb ignorant boys.

"hey!" a boy called "why's your deaf girl so weird huh?"

Aliyah rolled her eyes, continuing Cora’s notes.

"Hey! you deaf too? mini translator?" the boy called again.

How infuriating, Aliyah thought. People always thought there was something wrong with Cora just because she didn’t know sign language. It was as if it was a requirement for a deaf person to use a hearing aid or learn sign language. It was ridiculous to Aliyah, how kids who are frequently bullied and oppressed in this country, can still bully and opress one of their own.

The blind boy was still insulting Cora when their teacher stopped her lesson to scold him. As if Cora could hear what was going on, she sat up looking confused. Aliyah though, had enough of this crap from the other kids. She took her pen, her favorite yellow pen, and threw it right at the boys head. Naturally since the boy was blind he didn't see or sense the pen flying towards him. He only reacted when it smacked him dead in the eye, screaming and clutching his left eye.

As chaos began to break loose and Cora was trying (and failing) to read the teachers lips. Aliyah crawled under the table and snuck out of the classroom, before she could get in trouble. Meanwhile,Cora didn't understand what was happening at all. Everybody looked angry, the teacher's pale face was turning red as she looked like she was yelling. A random boy seemed to be in pain as a familiar yellow pen poked him in the eye. Not to mention Aliyah was gone.

Wait.

Where was Aliyah?

Cora hadn't noticed her leave the class with all the kids crowding around the boy. Scanning the classroom for any sign of Aliyah, her dark curly hair, bumble bee skirt and sparkly sun yellow headband. Cora quickly realized her sun ray looking sister was nowhere to be found. Well...she must’ve left. Since nobody was paying attention to her anyway, Cora grabbed her notebook and dashed out of the room. Where Aliyah could've gone? Cora didn't know. She knew her sister liked learning about animals so she probably went to the barn outside in the back.

Yeah. That made sense.

It was weird for Aliyah to just run off, unless she was the one who threw the yellow pen. Naturally, nobody with common sense would write in yellow pen on white paper so Cora set off in the direction of the barn, running as fast as she could. She felt so vulnerable without Aliyah beside her. She couldn't communicate with anyone, she couldn't hear if anybody was coming-no wonder her dad made her carry a flashlight everywhere she went. Cora had left her book bag back in the classroom, so she had nothing to indicate if there was another person in front of her or not.

Ughhhhhh. Cora groaned in her mind, throwing her head back in frustration.

Why did Aliyah have to run off to the place farthest from the classroom? Leaving her alone and exposed in this school filled with students who hated her. Realizing she was running a little too fast, Cora slowed down as she reached the wooden, coral blue barn. The barn was pretty old and the paint was chipping off the door as Cora opened it. Instantly struck with the scent of animal droppings and food.

Disgusting.

She didn’t have to walk on the hay strewn floor for long as she noticed Aliyah in a corner, looking like a walking school bus. As she got closer, Aliyah seemed to be looking outside of the small square window. Cora scribbled something her notebook and handed it to her sister.

"What are you looking at?" Cora had wrote.

Aliyah pointed outside the window and what Cora saw might have changed her life forever. She couldn’t be completely sure, but she could’ve sworn she was a pale girl with hot pink hair standing three feet away from the barn. But when she blinked to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating or imagining anything the girl was gone. 


	2. The Direct Court Doesn't Patrol

Eirlys Quill was walking the streets of Brookmire against her will. The smooth concrete road scraping against her combat boots. It was dumb, Eirlys thought glancing at all the blue and grey buildings. It was dumb that she, of all people had to walk around her own home city on "patrol." 

"We're not guards" Eirlys complained to her partner, Kenyon walking beside her. "We're not the direct court either." 

Kenyon rolled his eyes. "We are the direct court you imbecile." 

Which is true Erilys thought, the direct court on "patrol" sounded just as ridiculous though. Ignoring her partners words, Eirlys walked off and scanned the streets for something interesting. Her definition of interesting might be different than yours though. Eirlys needed a thrill, something to get her blood flowing. But the crowded capital of Krigia had everything boring today. Dumb couples holding hands and smiling, gross old people enjoying a sugared pastry that looked like it could kill them just by the sweet scent alone. 

Eirlys hated the elderly. 

They were always mad about something. Mad at the little children playing music too loudly, mad at the sun being too bright. What she hated the most, though, was that it seemed like they just hated the present altogether. They hated things that were different from the time the Krigian tribes ruled the land. They hated evolution and what was life without change anyway? 

"Stop glaring at the elderly" Kenyon's voice cuts into her thoughts. 

She hated him too. 

"I'm not glaring" Eirlys pouts, turning her icy blue eyes onto his ocean colored ones. 

"You act like a child" Kenyon scoffs, walking ahead of her. 

"seventeen is still a minor" 

"You look like a minor" 

"I kill minors" Eirlys claps back, making Kenyon blink. 

He always hated that about her. The fact that she found pleasure in killing children. Eirlys only killed children when she knew they were loved and cared for, she liked the "thrill" that came with ruining people's lives. She thought she was doing a family a favor since it was "one less mouth to feed." He hated that. Eirlys knew Kenyon hated it too, but instead of apologizing, she bounced towards a weapons shop, grey ponytail swinging. 

Eirlys loved weapons. 

She loved the sharp points of knives as they glimmered in the light of the open window. she marveled at the thought of a pickaxe severing through bones, ending a life. But while Eirlys was drooling over the death machines, Kenyon felt a ripple in the atmosphere. 

Somebody has entered Krigian grounds. 

Running a hand through his snow colored hair, Kenyon peers through the window of the store. Expecting the pedestrians to part for the newcomer. After about thirty seconds of nothing happening, Kenyon grit his teeth. Something was wrong, and judging from the way Eirlys was pretending to be interested in the coral colored handguns, she knew it too. 

"There's been a breach in barrier." Kenyon says quietly enough that only Eirlys could hear. 

"I know" Eirlys says, storming out of the weapons market. 

Whoever the newcomer was, she knew Kenyon would personally interrogate him. It was his style to be rule following robot. But not Eirlys, she didn't care who entered the land. Who cares if they do good or bad, they're most likely gonna die at the end of the day. 

Everybody dies at the end of the day. 

"We should report the breach to her" Kenyon said, somehow catching up to her fast walking pace. 

"Why?" Eirlys asks, walking towards the great palace in the middle of Brookmire. 

"It's our duty!" Kenyon says, grabbing her arm to stop her from walking away from him. 

"Touch me again and you're dead" Eirlys spits, jerking out of Kenyon's grasp. 

"What if has something-" 

"It has NOTHING-" 

"It is our destiny!" 

"It's not  _ destiny _ Kenyon!" Eirlys yells, getting in Kenyon's face. 

This guy, her partner, was supposed to be her brother. He twin brother at that. No matter if they had different dads, they were supposed to be just alike. But they didn’t even look alike! Kenyon was brown skinned while Eirlys was pale. His ivory toned hair deferring to her grey locs. Their eyes weren’t even the same blue, hers more like ice and his mirroring the ocean. All her brother was an obsessive freak who did whatever their mother said. How could she be related to such a pushover? 

"My desire is not destiny but yours is?" Kenyon asks. 

Eirlys watched as Kenyon leisurely walks off towards the castle. The gates looming three feet above his head. Without so much as a grunt, Kenyon Quill jumps over the two gates and lands gracefully on his feet-all without a sound. 

What a show off. 

"My desire" Eirlys calls, walking towards the gates. "makes sense for a person like me." 

With that last word, Eirlys does a somersault over the two iron gates. When she lands on her feet, dust billowing around her. She notices how pretty the ice castle was for the first time. The smooth surfaces of the cool blue towers shimmering like newly forged diamonds. As they crossed the white sand making up the perimeter of the building made of ice, neither of them bothered to knock on the single crystallized door. It opened before them, like it always did.

Walking into the castle, the pair of twins continued their conversation. 

"By 'person like you' you mean-" Kenyon starts, knowing exactly what his sister meant. 

Eirlys smirks that 'I'm the best' smirk and says "A princess, my desire to rule this kingdom makes sense for royalty like me." 

Eirlys doesn't let Kenyon contradict her as she gets in his face and grabs the blue beads hanging from his neck. 

"And you're a prince." 


	3. We All Keep Secrets

Cora was sitting in her bedroom going over the homework Aliyah had grabbed for her during her math class nap. After the commotion in 1st period though, every other class was normal. The teachers made a zero tolerance policy against the bullying of Cora. That included dirty looks too. It was kind of embarrassing to Cora but also relieving. She didn’t have to deal with crap from other students. Aliyah must’ve felt happy for her, Cora thought. On the other hand though, she must feel bad for herself since she had gotten detention after school. Apparently throwing a pencil at someone’s eye was against the rules. 

Who knew right? 

The only thing that still bothered Cora was that mysterious pink haired girl she saw. Or maybe she didn't see, Cora thought. Maybe she just thought she saw a pale girl with short hot pink hair standing three feet away from her school's barn. Yeah, that made sense. Just imagining an entire person who has a similar hair color mere feet away from her current location had to be normal. 

Let’s face it, it’s not normal. 

To clear her head of the ridiculous but reasonable thoughts. Cora decided that in this sunny afternoon, she would listen to some music. Aliyah wasn't home to get on her nerves so she was able to play it without her discovering the secret. Walking across her turquoise colored carpet from her dresser, Cora digs in the smallest drawer and pulls out her mp3 player. The small rectangle was painted gold and had a set of coral patterned headphones plugged into it. How exactly did Cora have such a thing, nobody knew-not even herself. 

The mp3 player was a trinket she had found randomly in her toybox when she was 8 years old. Knowing that she could hear the music, she had kept it ever since. Pressing the big circle in the middle, Cora scrolls to her favorite playlist. The one she had titled "Violins In The Silence." The playlist had consisted of an arrangement of twenty-three songs all played on the violin. The sounds of the violin ringing through her like bells. Every time they crescendoed, Cora felt as if they were calling to her. Telling her to come home. But she was home. The place where she doesn't belong. The place where everybody hated her, judged her. They watched everything she did as if she was some dangerous animal. The kind of animal you put in a cage and feed through the bars. The place with a school for the impaired, just like her. Except she still wasn't like them. She would never be like them, and how could she be? How could she be like everybody else and still be herself? 

She couldn't. 

While Cora was reflecting on how much she felt like she didn’t belong, Aliyah wasn't really in detention. In fact Aliyah was far from the school. Aliyah was standing outside of a coral colored cottage talking to the girl Cora thought she didn't see. 

"Who are you?" Aliyah had asked the mysterious pink haired girl. 

She had known where the girl lived because she’d seen her standing outside of the school building. Aliyah being as smart as she was, decided to follow her all the way to the cottage in the middle of nowhere. The pink haired girl narrowed her eyes as she studied the girl. No doubt wondering why Aliyah was following her. Aliyah was starting to wonder that herself.

"I am nobody" the girl says with an accent Aliyah didn’t recognize. "You though, are Aliyah Imani Smith. People from this land have three names for no particular reason."

_This land? _Aliyah thought staring at the pale girl's hot pink hair._ Did that mean she was a foreigner?_ _A foreigner who hasn't been introduced by the Queen? _

"You have an accent" Aliyah noted, crossing her arms and fingering her golden star bracelet. "Where are you from?" 

The pink haired girl smiles a small and looks to her left. _Who was that boy?_ _Was he there before? _Aliyah couldn't exchange small talk for long. She had to ask the questions right now. 

"You came to my school looking for her" Aliyah says, pulling a picture of Cora out of her school bag. 

The pink haired girls big green eyes widened. 

"You know our target" she says, reaching for the picture of Cora. But before she can actually grab the picture. Aliyah snatches it back. Brown eyes narrowing at the word 'target'. 

"She's not our target, Allison." The pink haired boy said. 

Why did he expose his partners name just now? The pink haired boy seemed friendly enough. He had a nice build, very tall. He looked as if he was nearly twenty years old, with the preppy way he dressed. As if he had tons of money wherever these two foreigners were from. 

"This is Allison." the boy says, white teeth gleaming as he put an arm around his friend, or maybe girlfriend. “I;m Azai, you’ll like me more than her.” 

Aliyah smiled along with him, she liked friendly people. She extended her hand, about to shake it only to have the boy growl at her. 

"It's a handshake" Aliyah says grabbing his hand and putting it into hers. 

The boy chuckles with embarrassment, a sweet hearty laugh.As he starts spilling the real reason they were in Krigia. But while Aliyah was chatting away with the people who had pink hair, Cora was still diving into her music back at home. 

Completely oblivious to what was about to happen next. 


	4. Red Is The Color Of Blood

As Kenyon was laying in his bed, he thought about what Eirlys had said to him when they had entered the castle. Kenyon didn't understand why Eirlys always brought up the fact that they were royalty. Having the Quill name would be a good reason to think they had power. It was the Queen's surname after all. Quill was by far the most powerful name in Krigia. But nobody knew there were once five Quill's. Nobody knew there were currently three Quill's either. Nobody knew Eirlys and Kenyon existed. 

It had to stay that way. 

Getting up from his bed made of real black leather, Kenyon goes straight to his closet and grabs his favorite item. The precious item, a simple necklace made of black string and four beads. The beads an ocean color, to match his eyes. It was the only thing Eirlys had ever given him, their entire lives. The only thing Eirlys liked about his wardrobe too. He knew what people would think of his twin, as he tied the necklace around him. He knew they would never accept a murderer as their leader. But, nobody knew Eirlys like Kenyon did. Not even The Queen herself. 

"You're wearing my favorite necklace." Eirlys voice floats through the room. 

"How long have you been there?" Kenyon asks, turning towards her. 

"Long enough to see you swooning over my little gift" Eirlys says with a grin. 

She always loved to brag, Kenyon thought. He guessed the necklace made her feel closer to him. since everything about them had more differences than they'd both like to admit. Major differences like their personalities didn't bother him, those were normal and can't actually be changed. The drastic difference in the way they dressed, was something that they both hated. Eirlys wore a black cropped shirt with interesting looking orange pants. Her gray hair was down today, probably because she cut it up to go to her stomach. Which is short by her standards. 

Moving back onto his bed, Kenyon motions Eirlys to sit with him. Normally Eirlys didn't take his suggestions, stating she was an independent woman. Instead today she just walked across the icy floor, and sat. Guess she's not independent today. 

"Why'd you give me the necklace?" Kenyon asked, fingering the beads. 

"Cuz i felt like it" Eirlys says matter-of-factly. 

"But there has to be a reason" 

"You dress like a tribe dude, so I gave you a tribe looking thing" 

"I do not-" 

"Yes you do" Eirlys cuts him off, pointing to the turquoise feather in his earring. 

Okay made he did...just a little. 

Kenyon dressed today in a burgundy vest with no shirt underneath. His dad always said that shirts were a hindrance. Kenyon felt the same way and only wore vests most of the time because believe it or not, ice castles were cold. His black drawstring pants were never annoying though, they were very comfortable and easy to move in. The blue beaded necklace didn't actually match anything he wore. It almost matched with the blue feather earring he had in, but not quite. 

Kenyon didn't care how he dressed though. 

"We got a meeting" Eirlys says as she starts moving off the bed. 

"What about?" Kenyon asks, following her into the corridors of the castle. 

"I don't have a clue" 

"Why don't you have a clue?" 

"Because" Eirlys says simply, shrugging her shoulders. 

As if that's an answer, Eirlys says no more. 

The pair of twins walk the rest of the way in silence, the only sound was their shoes clanking against the clear blue ice. Even though he was at home, Kenyon always watched and memorized his surroundings. He didn't want the red potted tulips placed at the bottom of each pillar to be disarray. The blood red curtains accenting the white walls were never wrinkled and neither were the crystallized windows. 

If any of those minor details were out of place, Kenyon would know. 

Eirlys was about the opposite though, She didn't care about the windows or flowers. The only thing that set her off was the massive crimson door looming in front of them. The door was decorated with red tinted ice, The Queen's specialty. If that door looked the least out of place, Eirlys knew they were in some really deep shit. 

Really, really deep. 

"Are you gonna knock?" Eirlys asks sharply, not taking her eyes off the door. 

"Well..." Kenyon starts, his mouth going dry. "I was thinking you should knock." 

The twins share an equally nervous glance that told them neither of them were knocking.

Taking her eyes from the door only long enough to look at Kenyon, Eirlys asks "what if we both knock?" 

Kenyon nods his head, "on three." 

Counting off with their fingers, the two finally knock on the door. Their fists so quiet, it was a wonder if they had knocked at all. The twins knew to only knock once, no matter how long they had to wait. They weren't afraid of anything in this world, or the next. But the person who appeared once the door was open, was probably the most frightening thing the twins had ever seen. 

"My Queen." the twins say in unison, bowing their heads. 

Turning away from the bowing twins, the woman chuckles. Her laugh was soft but cold, like snow hitting soil. As she led the pair into her massive bedroom, the woman thought it humorous to know that the twins addressed her that way. She expected Eirlys to eat dirt, rather than admit that she is queen. 

She would never say she's her mother though. 

Making a left turn into a circular room, the twins watch their mother take a seat and follow after her. 

"The meeting has begun" their mother said, voice barely rising. 

Kenyon opened his mouth to speak but Eirlys beats him to it. 

"What's with all the red?" Eirlys asks, staring at her mom's red dress. "you change the national color or something?" 

The Queen smirks, mirroring Eirlys’s. "Red is the color of blood, my dear." 

"We shedding blood tonight?" Eirlys asks, only letting her eyes show any excitement.

"You could be, if you figure out who breached the barrier." The Queen says, staring directly at Kenyon. 

Kenyon stared back into his mother's ice blue eyes, he knew that she would know about the breach without them reporting. It was only natural that the Queen knows who enters her country illegally. But why make Kenyon and Eirlys go deal with the person? 

Leaning forward so his elbows touched the table, Kenyon asks "why do you need assassins?” 

The Queen continues to unblinkingly look at Kenyon as she says "Your destiny awaits, my son." 

Kenyon's eyes grow wide at the words that came out of his mothers mouth. His destiny? That meant she knew something, that meant the breach had something to do with it. That meant that soon, he could finally-

"It's not his destiny" Eirlys sneers, her arms folded against her chest. "It's nothing but a mission that only one of us needs to handle." 

Kenyon had enough of Eirlys's crap, she was always dismissing his life's purpose. 

"If one of us needs to handle it," Kenyon starts "then I think that I-" 

"You're not handling crap!" Eirlys cuts him off, slamming both hands on the table. 

"She said my destiny-" 

"screw destiny!" Eirlys starts, getting in Kenyon's face. "You're a prince, your life purpose isn't-" 

But before Eirlys could say more, The Queen's eyes flashed dangerously. 

"His life purpose is what I say it is" The Queen's quiet voice hardens. "If you're going to argue about which one of you is going to go, neither of you will go. Until you make a decision." 

The twins stay seated, still seething. 

"Do I make myself clear?" The Queen asks, looking at them each in turn. 

The twins give each other a hateful glare and without even looking at The Queen they both say: 

"Yes mother." 


	5. Pink Haired Stalkers

Aliyah stared at the clock on her wall, full dressed and ready for school. She didn't understand why Cora's door wasn't open or why her light wasn't on. It was already past the time for them to go to school, but Aliyah didn't leave her alone. Deciding that her eyes were starting to hurt from staring at the clock for too long, Aliyah left her room. Holding her school bag tight, Aliyah walked across the hall and slowly opened Cora's door. 

As the fairy lights around the room immediately come on, Aliyah sees Cora's sleeping figure on the twin bed against the wall. How could she possibly sleep when they were late for school? Aliyah walks across the room, not bothering to keep quiet as she trips over Cora's turquoise rug. It must be easy to fall asleep, Aliyah as she stared once more at Cora sleeping peacefully. Since Cora was deaf she couldn't hear random noises that kept her awake. 

But she was gonna feel Aliyah. 

Aliyah ripped Cora's blanket off her, leaving shivering in the cold room. Cora's eyes opened wide, hand nearing her emergency bell as searched for her attacker. But when Cora noticed Aliyah holding her blanket to her mouth as she laughed, Cora relaxed. Aliyah drops the blanket and searches for Cora's notebook. About to ask her why she was sleeping past school hours, when she noticed the red flowers planted outside. 

There was a sea of nothing but red flowers of all kinds. The people that were awake in the town all had clothes in every shade of red. Maroon, burgundy, crimson, even cherry. Southstreet looked the Krigia's first concrete strawberry field. What in the Queen's good graces was going on? 

Is it a holiday? Aliyah wondered, returning to her search for Cora's notebook. That must be why Cora was sleeping. But how did Cora know today would be a holiday? Aliyah searched Cora's desk and didn't find the notebook. She glanced over and saw Cora drifting back to sleep, her body leaning back onto her bed. Aliyah smirked as she gave up on the desk and went to Cora white wooden dresser. 

Pulling out each drawer seemed like a waste of time since Cora kept all her clothes in the closet. So Aliyah decided to skip over the bigger drawers meant for clothes and goes to the little one. Pulling it out, Aliyah leans in and sees the notebook. As she picks it up though, she sees something else. A small golden rectangular looking thing, with headphones attached to it. 

From the history books Aliyah knew that was an MP3 player. MP3 players haven’t been in Krigia for sixteen years, according to the book. Pulling out the MP3 player and hiding it under the notebook, Aliyah realized what Azai and Allison said was true. Cora really could hear music. Why else would she even have an MP3 player? 

It was time to wake her up. 

Aliyah smacked Cora on the head three times before she finally woke up. Tossing a pen at her, Aliyah sits on the floor and waits for Cora to notice the device. Cora, completely oblivious to what was going on decides to get up and go to her closet. She puts on her uniform, a white sweater with a light pink skirt-and finally notices Aliyah holding up a golden trinket. 

Her MP3 player. 

Rushing over to her, Cora snatches the notebook out her hand and writes furiously. 

“Where did you get that!” 

Aliyah snatches it back from her and writes “you can hear music!” 

Cora’s heart stops, but she continues to write. “I’m deaf, I can’t hear music” 

“You can.” 

“I can’t!” 

“Oh yeah?” 

Aliyah grabs the headphones, and places them over Cora’s ears. Aliyah searches through the device and turns the volume all the way up. She knew that a truly deaf person would just feel the vibration of the sound, not actually hear it. Aliyah also that Cora wasn’t truly deaf, so she hit play. 

Cora’s eyes go wide as she the sound of the violins pierce her eardrums. The violins no longer calling to her, no longer filling her up with a sense of belonging. As Cora took off the headphones, she realized that when the sound was too loud-the silent world she lived it became a relief. She never would’ve thought silence be more comforting than sound. 

How strange. 

Cora sits back on the bed and without looking at aliyah, she writes “Okay, so maybe I can hear music. But that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t hear anything else. I can’t even read people’s lips. It’s like they’re speaking a different language.”

Aliyah’s eyes widen as she reads Cora’s words. Her sister didn't know how close she was to the truth. 

“What if we were speaking a different language?” Aliyah writes. 

Cora looks down at her sister a confused look in her eye, her sister must know something. 

Aliyah continues writing and scribbles down how she lied about having detention. She writes about how she stalked the girl Cora saw the other day at the barn. Aliyah told her about their pink hair and their accent. She told Cora nearly everything. The rest was for them to tell. 

“They want to meet you.” Alyiah added, after the information was dealt. 

It didn’t make any sense to Cora. Two random people sneak into Krigia without The Queen’s knowledge. Two random people come to her exact town looking for her specifically. They go to her school, confront her younger sister, and claim that she’s what? Their target? And coincidentally, both of these suspicious foreigners have pink hair. 

Cora was the only person in Southstreet who had pink hair. 

Going back to her closet, Cora throws on a big red sweater, pairs them with dark jeans and snatches the notebook off the bed. 

“Let’s go meet these stalkers.” Cora writes furiously. 

Stomping out the room, Cora slams her bedroom door closed She didn’t care that it was seven in the daylight zone. She didn’t care that she left Aliyah in the room, or that she could have possibly woken up her parents. All she gave a crap about was those two stupid, pink haired stalkers who decided to barge in on her life. They were probably con-artists, Cora thought as she reached the kitchen door. 

She was about to walk out until she felt a hand on her arm. Cora flicked her eyes just enough to see Aliyah trying to mouth the words. Aliyah knew Cora didn’t understand the language that she spoke, but as she pointed outside-she hoped she would get the message. 

Aliyah leads the way towards the coral colored cottage about eighteen blocks away from their house. The entire time Cora was angry, so they walked without writing. Cora was angry that Aliyah went off alone, skipped detention, followed strangers. Cora was angry that Aliyah woke her up early on a holiday, spoke all that nonsense. Most of all though, Cora was mad that she had to meet people. 

She hated people. 

The siblings reach a coral colored cottage in the middle of nowhere. How in the world did Aliyah remember this place? Cora thought as they walked up to the door. More importantly though, how did they get this place?

Aliyah doesn’t bother to knock on the door and just walks right in as if she’s been there before. Even so walking into strangers homes were the sure way they could easily die. 

Cora told her this via spiral notebook and Aliyah wrote down “I know them! They’re my friends!” 

Cora rolled her eyes as she enters the small home and wrote “People that you just met yesterday are your friends?” 

Aliyah smiles big and nods her head. “Azai said so” she wrote. 

They were definitely going to die. 

After about three steps onto the wooden floor, a box of cookies flies past Cora’s head-hitting the wall. Now she was gonna get decapitated by cookies. What a great way to die. 

Aliyah laughs and looks at Azai’s serious but cute face. He was like eighteen but age is just a number. Cora pulls Aliyah behind her and glares at boy with the pink hair. Azai flashes her a smile and points upwards. Cora looks up and she sees a pale girl with short pink hair standing on the balcony. Her green eyes widen as she spots Cora. 

Cora had enough of this. 

Cora snatches the notebook from Aliyah, holding high in the air so the pink haired stalkers could read it. 

“Who are you?” it read, “why do you keep stalking me?” 

Azai laughs out loud and Cora jumps at the sound. 

“You heard that didn’t you?” the boy says. 


	6. Half The Population Is Dead

“Destiny!” Eirlys exclaims as she throws a pillow at her bedroom door. “Destiny! Destiny!  _ Destiny!”  _ throwing a pillow with each word. 

Eirlys slumps back hard on her soft bed, looking at the chandelier.  _ It was always destiny with Kenyon,  _ she thought furiously. She picks up a pillow and tosses it at the door, furious with her brother for that destiny crap he pulled at the meeting. To make matters worse The Queen even sided with him! All Eirlys could do was watch as their fate nonsense flowed between them like a stream. 

A stream of bullshit. 

“Was that you throwing pillows at the door?” Kenyon asked, silent as ever. 

Eirlys didn’t even hear him come in, the bastard. 

Tearing her eyes away from the ceiling, Eirlys gives her brother a wary glance and scowls. 

“So what if I was?” she says, head resting on her palm. “Are pillows hitting doors apart of your  _ destiny? _ ” 

Kenyon fiddles with the beaded necklace she gave him. He only did that when he was frustrated. But he didn’t have anything to be angry about, Eirlys thought observing the gesture. It was her who should be angry, her whole damn family was caught up on nothing but a mission. 

“I was meant for that mission” Kenyon says, crossing his arms. “You of all people should know that.” 

“Me of all-” Eirlys starts, jumping off her bed and lands on her bare feet. “Who do you think you are? Some type of hero? Some type of person  _ destined  _ to save us all?” 

“Who do you think  _ you  _ are?” Kenyon shot back, “you think you’re a  _ princess _ ? You’re nothing but a cold blooded murderer that has an invisible crown. Nobody has even heard of you, nobody has heard of  _ us.  _ We don’t  _ exist  _ Eirlys!” 

“I DO EXIST!” Eirlys screams. 

Pointing above Kenyon’s head, Eirlys makes black ice sprout from the ceiling. If she focused hard enough, she could make the longest icicle pierce through Kenyon's brain until blood sprayed from his ears. Naturally she wouldn’t do that to her own idiot twin. 

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t think about it. 

Eirlys waves her right hand over the floor surrounding Kenyon. 

As the shards of ice surround hi Kenyon grits his teeth “ _ calm down.”  _

“Did you say my crown was invisible?” Eirlys said, her eyes glowing as she got angrier. “Invisible like my  _ ice _ ?” 

Kenyon rolled on the floor to dodge the icicles Eirlys shot at him. 

He didn’t attack or try to defend, he just dodged and ran. If he used his magic now he would most likely kill Eirlys. But with that thought in Eirlys’s brain, her anger suddenly eased. No longer the grey storm of emotion, now just a steady downpour. This is what she could control, she thought as her eyes stopped glowing. She needed to save her power anyway. 

For whomever was idiotic enough to her enter her country without invitation. 

“Are you done now?” Kenyon said without so much as a scratch on him. 

The prick. 

“Yeah i’m done for now” Eirlys says, waving her left hand to clear the ice. 

As the ice disappears, leaving nothing black dust in its wake. Eirlys sits back on her bed, head in her hands. She was always losing control, losing her temper. One of these days, Eirlys completely lose control and possibly kill the poor guy. Imagine living with the fear that one day you’ll kill your very own twin brother. Murdering someone that you grew up with, see everyday, someone you cared about.

What a rush. 

“Instead of fighting about who’s going on the mission” Kenyon started, as he sits across from her on the carpet. “We should just go on the mission together.” 

Eirlys rolled her eyes and smirked, “fine, but need more information than just a breach in the barrier,” she mused. 

Kenyon stood up, ruffling his hair, “we should ask mom” he suggests. 

Eirlys rolled her eyes once again, “you always wanna ask her” she complained slipping off the bed. 

“Well she’s the-”

“I  _ know  _ she’s The Queen” Eirlys snaps, 

“So angry today” 

“Shut up.” 

As Eirlys stomped out of their room she grinned as she heard Kenyon chuckling after her. 

\-------------------

“Is there something that you need?” The Queen’s quiet, steady voice fills the throne room. 

Eirlys and Kenyon had arrived in the throne room a few minutes ago. Kenyon was now in front of the throne, facing their mother. Eirlys stood off to the side, not having the energy to speak or listen. 

“We have decided that the both of us will go on the mission.” Kenyon says, gesturing towards Eirlys.

The Queen narrows her eyes in Eirlys’s direction but says to Kenyon “You do know why I picked you right?” 

Kenyon shifts his weight, “It has something to do with my destiny.” 

Ugh. Eirlys groaned in her head. Again with this destiny crap. 

Eirlys pushes herself off the cold icy wall she was resting on, ready to get this conversation over with. 

“Cut the crap, he’ll need his partner to watch his back” Eirlys says, sauntering up to Kenyon. 

“He needs no one.” The Queen snapped. 

“Like hell he does, if there’s more-” 

“Eirlys let me tell you a little story.” The Queen cuts her off. 

Eirlys just rolled her eyes and watched her mother make chairs out of red tinted ice. The twins sit down in front of the throne, Kenyon eager to hear what she has to say. On the flipside, Eirlys didn’t actually care, all she wanted to do was to investigate that breach. If it didn’t happen in Brookmire, where did it happen? Why would the intruders go to lesser known towns, instead of the capital? More importantly though, what were they hiding from the crown? 

  
  


“You know that Krigia has nearly zero rival countries in Alleya right?” The Queen starts. 

The twins nodded, knowing that in the early days of Krigia’s establishment The Queen and Eirlys’s father King Edric crushed all countries that threatened or even spoke ill will on their kingdom. The Queen and Kenyon’s father also did the same thing, a few months after King Edric died. 

That’s how The Queen tells the story anyway. 

“What do you mean by nearly?” Eirlys asks, suddenly interested. 

The Queen leaned back in her throne made of ice, a resentful look crossing her pale face. 

“We do have one enemy left, to this day.” she responds through gritted teeth. 

Eirlys raises in eyebrow, the only shock she’ll show. How could there other enemies? How could they not have destroyed every single one of them? What did her father die for, if his simple task couldn’t be fulfilled in his absence. 

“There was a great kingdom, much like ours-that ruled the entirety of Alleya.” The Queen resumes, hatred burning in her blue eyes. “This kingdom would probably be more powerful than us, if still existed.” 

“I thought you said it was nearly destroyed?” Kenyon asks, his eyes growing wide. 

“When I first traveled here to Alleya, I got to know the monarchs of the country. They wanted to be allies and at first I thought it would be a good idea. Having a strong kingdom by my side. But then I noticed that the queen was pregnant.” The Queen smiles the same smile Eirlys has when she’s murdering somebody. 

Eirlys smiled too, she knew her mother wouldn’t like any kingdom with an heir. 

“I betrayed the monarchs, and killed them both.” she continued. “I wasn’t able to kill the mother while she was pregnant though, so I just stole the baby and destroyed half of the population.”

“Wait, did you say that you stole the baby?” Kenyon asks, his mind already at work. 

“Yes, she lives here in Krigia, the rest is apart of your destiny.” The Queen answers. 

Which meant that Eirlys knew exactly what to do next. 

“The rival kingdom you only half destroyed,” Eirlys starts to ask. “Did they have any specific trait?” 

All three family members share a wide, equally cruel grin. 

“Why yes, my dear” The Queen says. 

“They all had pink hair.” 


	7. Fairy Lights

So she could hear them. 

Cora. Keely. Smith who has not been able to hear since she was able to see, could hear Allison and Azai. Two random strangers who knew her full name, had snuck into the country. Two random strangers who illegally owned a cottage in Krigia. Two people she had never seen in her life, suddenly made her hear their voices. 

What sort of trick were they playing? 

“Of course she can hear us.” Allison says as she walks down the stairs. 

Cora could hear her footsteps. 

“I mean yeah, but i just wanted to make sure we didn’t get the wrong girl.” Azai remarks, playfully. 

Cora heard him speak,  _ again _ . 

This wasn’t making any sense Cora thought, as she backed towards the front door. Why could she hear them? Why could she hear every vowel that came out of their mouth? What type of cruel joke were these people playing? Why did Aliyah bring her here? 

What. Was going. On?! 

“Um, I think she’s freaking out” Azai realizes, looking at Cora in the face. “Her eyes are really big and angry looking.” 

Allison walks over to Cora and grabs her arm, trying to soothe her. 

“Cora relax” she says softly, “I know it’s difficult but-” 

Cora jerks out of her grip and pushes Allison to the ground. She wanted to yell at her, scream, curse at her. She wanted to ask why the hell she could suddenly hear. Why could her voice float in her ears but not Aliyah’s? Why not her mom’s or her teachers? Why not her doctors or her dad’s? Why did Azai’s voice get to be the one she heard first? Why did Allison’s get to be the one right after? 

She didn’t know crap. 

Cora grabs Aliyah and her notebook and races out of the cottage, dragging Aliyah by the arm. Cora feels Aliyah trip and fall, bringing her down with her. Instead getting though, Cora just sits. Not caring about the grass scratching against her skin. 

“Cora….” Aliyah’s handwriting was neatly scrawled in the lines of the paper. “They said that they can help you.” 

“Help me do what!?” Cora writes, snatching the pen from her. “I am deaf, I'm the deaf, pink haired girl, I’m adopted but i’m Krigian born and raised. I’m the outsider, the girl that gets picked on at school, I’m the girl who’s younger has to sign for her. I’m not some special person from a land filled with ... I don’t know ...pink hair.” 

“If you’re deaf, how can you hear them?” Aliyah writes “How can you hear music?” 

“I don’t know!” Cora scribbled. “They’re probably like using some device or something to trick my ears.” 

“What if they’re using magic?” Aliyah countered. 

“But nobody has magic but The Queen!” 

“They’re not Krigian, Cora! That’s the whole point! Instead of being all upset and confused, talk to them to figure things out. You don’t wanna be an outsider? Then go to them, go to the land of pink hair, find out if that’s a place where you can belong.” 

Aliyah slams the notebook shut and starts walking back towards the cottage. 

Cora had a choice to either figure out her life, or sit here and sulk. She could continue living on as the “pink haired deaf girl who can hear music”, or she could be something more. Maybe she already was something more. Those magic pink haired stalkers couldn’t be lying right? 

Cora catches up to Aliyah ready to face what could be the truth. 

“Hey! You okay?” Azai asks, when the sisters go back to the cottage and sit on the couch. 

“We’re fine” Aliyah says, answering for Cora. “She wants to hear what you guys have to say” 

“Why doesn’t she speak?” Allison says, still standing. “Growing up here has really tainted one of our own.” 

“She doesn’t know how to talk!” Aliyah snaps, grabbing Cora’s hand. “You’re speaking a language she can understand, because she’s heard it before.” 

“Why are able you understand me then?” 

“Allison!” Azai snaps. “You’re speaking Jikai!” 

“So? Cora can’t speak Jikai?” 

“No she can’t” Aliyah responds “Mom says Cora was adopted around five, and since she can’t hear, she couldn’t hear our language or adapt to it, she could just write it.” 

“Who can write a language but not speak it?” Allison says. 

“Why don’t you show respect?” Azai says through gritted teeth. “This our lost princess, we finally found her, and since you’re so pissy, i’ll do the talking.” 

Allison glares daggers at Azai, but doesn’t say anything else. 

“We come from a land called Vestica, it’s not as big as it used to be, but it’s still pretty large.” Azai says to Cora. 

Cora understood him and heard him, but his voice sounded faintly like piano keys. 

“The land we come from,” Azai continued “Is called Vestica, it was a great kingdom but you’ll learn about that soon enough. Every Vestican nowadays train to be warriors, there’s two divisions-split by gender. I’m rank number one in the mens, Allison is rank two. Currently Allison and the elders are in power of Vestica, I’m Allison protector and best friend. Everyone in our kingdom has heard of you, and they chose us to find you.” 

Cora still had many many questions to ask Azai. Why were they trying to find her? Why were Allison and these elderly people in power if they were a kingdom? 

Azai cleared his throat “We were told of you when we were both around 800 years old but we weren’t old enough to look for you and you weren’t old enough to rule. Time went on and every year on your day of awakening, we would search for any sign of you and we finally came to this place, Krigia. You’re our lost princess and more can be revealed in our home Cora, in Vestica.” 

Cora just blinked. 

“Did they say that I had to go to this..Vestica?” she wrote down, so only Aliyah could see. 

Aliyah nodded, ignoring Allison and Azai’s curious stares. 

“Tell them, that I decline the offer.” 

Aliyah’s eyes grew wide with shock, the brown dulling with disappointment. Cora knew that Aliyah wanted to her to go with them, to find out more about who she was and find the place where she belonged. But she just couldn’t. 

“What do you mean you’re not going?” Allison stifled, her vow of silence clearly over. “You have a duty to your people, your kingdom, to yourself. You deny the chance to figure out who you really are?” 

Cora rolled her eyes. 

“I don’t have people, I don’t have a kingdom, and I don’t owe myself anything except an A on my math quiz.” Cora wrote, holding up the notebook so they both could read it. “I know who I am! A highschool student at Southstreet High, Krigian born and raised!” 

“How can you-” ‘Allison starts, narrowing her eyes. 

“We understand, just let us give you this dictionary with our language” Azai cuts in, handing her a wooden book. 

Strange really, Cora thought as she accepted the book. There were no wooden books in Krigia. All the books were made of glass or tinted ice, then painters would use watercolor paint to decorate them. Cora had to paint a book one time for Occupation Training. 

“We’re leaving.” Cora writes, and starts heading out of the cottage. 

“If you have a change of heart,” Allison’s sharp flute sounding voice, floated into her ears. “We’ll be here until sunset.” 

Cora didn’t bother scribbling in her notebook or even slowing down so Aliyah could catch up. She was sick and tired of this nonsense, of those two magical people claiming that she was a lost princess. It didn’t matter if it was true or not, she had a family. A normal, dark haired, non-royal family. She had a dad who installs fairy-lights around the house just for her, she has a mom who taught her how to love her hair. No matter if it was pink. 

She had a sister, a younger prodigy sister who learned sign language and writes in notebooks just for her. That was all she needed, she didn’t need a kingdom or pink haired friends. She didn’t need to hear or learn to talk to be happy.

As Cora and Aliyah reach their house, they see that their house lights are already on. Cora narrowed her eyes and looked at the sun, it wasn’t near the time for her parents to be home. But they must’ve gotten home early since it was a holiday to celebrate the Queen’s new favorite color. 

As the two sisters, walk into the house they don’t sense anything unusual. But they also don’t see their parents. 

“Did we leave the lights on?” Aliyah wrote on a notepad on the counter. 

Cora didn’t respond, she just shrugged and left Aliyah in the kitchen-eager to get back to her comfy bed. Cora opened the door, expecting her lights to automatically flash on but they didn’t. Instead her room remained dark and Cora felt her door being closed. 

Cora couldn’t hear Eirlys’s soft chuckle or her footsteps on her turquoise rug. She couldn’t see Eirlys summon a black icicle either. 

But she felt it pierce through her stomach. 

  
  
  



End file.
